RE: Faith community urges House introduction and passage of sentencing
reform

Dear Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Nadler,

The undersigned faith organizations call for the introduction and
passage of robust sentencing reform as a necessary component of
comprehensive criminal justice reform in the House Judiciary
Committee. We are united in the belief that criminal justice reform is
comprised of prospective and retroactive reductions in mandatory minimum
sentences. Congress is the law making body and should put forth a
meaningful criminal justice reform package such as it did in the 114th
Congress. The Sentencing Reform Act in the last Congress (H.R. 3713) was
the linchpin of reform. Prison reform and reentry programs, while
necessary, will not do enough to stem the tide of mass incarceration.

We urge the House Judiciary Committee to re-introduce an unchanged
Sentencing Reform Act from last Congress. When this legislation is
introduced, we urge the Committee to bring it along with the Prison
Reform and Redemption Act (H.R.3356) and the Second Chance
Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2899) through committee as a package. H.R.
3356 and H.R. 2899 are pieces of legislation that need to be paired with
sentencing reform to constitute real criminal justice reform. Prison
reform without sentencing legislation, or with pared down sentencing
components, would be both incomplete and very difficult to reconcile
with the Senate’s Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 1917).

Our faith communities are on the ground in neighborhoods ravaged by a
broken criminal justice system. We see this nation’s reliance on mass
incarceration to solve drug addiction, poverty, mental illness and
joblessness – societal problems that are exacerbated in communities of
color by racial disparities – as an affront to justice and human
dignity. A federal prison crisis is looming due to overcrowding caused
both by excessive mandatory minimum sentences and a prison system with
limited rehabilitative opportunities. Our moral sensibility compels
faith leaders across the country to advocate for sentencing reform and
we can no longer wait for action.

We believe continued inaction will harm children and families across the
country. Approximately five million children have at least one parent in
prison. The long absence of parents, who are loved, valued, and critical
to maintaining their children’s well-being, has a lasting impact. On
average, households with an incarcerated family member owe more than
$13,000 in court fees alone—this is almost half of the annual income of
low-income households. Consequently, nearly two-thirds of families with
an incarcerated member were unable to meet their family’s basic needs, such as food, housing, and other needs for children. While 1 in 28
American children has an incarcerated parent, 1 in 9 African American children are impacted in this way.

Finally, studies have shown that imprisonment can create or worsen
mental health problems among the incarcerated, decrease incarcerated
people’s employment opportunities post-release, increase rates of
poverty, and harm people connected to the inmates and families, as
discussed above. The challenges incarcerated people face in prison
impede their ability to become productive members of society after their
release -- thus mandatory minimums become a contributing factor to recidivism. These impacts of incarceration increase with longer sentences.

While even the package of reforms approved by the House Judiciary
Committee in the 114th Congress (H.R. 3713, H.R. 759 and H.R. 3406)
did not fully address all of our concerns with the federal criminal
justice system, it would contribute to a criminal justice system that is
fairer and less focused on retribution. We call for reintroduction of
an unchanged Sentencing Reform Act to accompany the Prison Reform and
Redemption Act (H.R.3356) and the Second Chance Reauthorization Act
(H.R. 2899) as a House Judiciary package. Our faith in the divine and
commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every human life compels
us as a faith community to call for reforms that bring us closer to the
end of mass incarceration. We are united in our belief that criminal
justice policies based solely on the intention to punish the offender
are both ungodly and ineffective. Reducing sentences to more appropriate
lengths and providing opportunities after incarceration are both
critical.

Sincerely,

Africa Faith & Justice Network

Alliance of Baptists

American Baptist Home Mission Societies

American Friends Service Committee

Bread for the World

Church of Scientology National Affairs Office

The Episcopal Church

Faith Action Network – Washington

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Interfaith Action for Human Rights

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Mennonite Central Committee- Washington Office

National Alliance of Faith and Justice

National Council of Churches

National Council of Jewish Women

National Religious Campaign Against Torture

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Office of Justice and Ecology, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the
United States

Office of Social Justice, Christian Reformed Church in North America

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalist Association

United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

CC: Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House

Marina Golan-Vilella

Program Assistant, Domestic Policy

Marina Golan-Vilella serves as a Program Assistant for Domestic Policy at FCNL. Marina works under José Santos Woss on mass incarceration issues and campaign finance reform (election integrity). She lobbies members of Congress for criminal justice reform, from police oversight to prisoner re-entry programs. Her responsibilities include researching legislator positions, writing policy briefs and updates, and conducting outreach to FCNL constituents.